


All We Are

by Skylar0Grace



Series: Perceiving Us [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7817962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylar0Grace/pseuds/Skylar0Grace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"But none of that could happen if she was in it."</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	All We Are

He’d only known her for six months. Six months. Jess had introduced them but he had, at the time, thought of only investing as much time in her as was required. As much as he wanted to escaped the life he’d been born into, he knew there was a chance it would always find him. He could protect Jess; having too many friends might be more difficult. It was a bitter pill to swallow but until he was more certain, it would have to be that way. One day though, one day, he would propose to Jess and start a new life with her—a life that was everything normal that he’d dreamt of.  
  
But none of that could happen if she was in it.  
  
She was intelligent, energetic, and just enough of the mysterious crazy he’d grown up with to keep his interest. She shouldn’t—all he’d do is glance at Jess and he knew that she was all he wanted—but this enigma of a woman had all the right sort of appeal. Or wrong, as he seriously considered outside her building at one in the morning.  
  
The sounds of a fight had drawn his attention and he’d walked right into her being slammed into a brick wall by some sort of grotesque demon. He didn’t know _what_ it was, didn’t really care, and he was relieved when it had run off. He possibly would have left it at that. If it hadn’t been for her. She was frustrated that he hadn’t killed her attacker, which, from a human perspective, seemed a little excessive for a mugging. However, once she mentioned that it had been the same ‘man’ who had attacked her the night before, anger rose in him. She was being targeted and he wondered how much she was leaving out as her eyes darted away and she became tight-lipped. Had she known she was being stalked? How serious had it gotten? How _long_ had she been hiding the truth?  
  
He refused to let her be alone for the remainder of the night—it was just what friends did. It had nothing to do with the injustice he felt on her behalf, nor the sudden need to protect someone who wasn’t his to protect. When she mentioned calling Jess, he stayed with her on Jess’ behalf. The only thing worse than potentially having to protect a friend from a demon would be knowing he’d put his girlfriend in harm’s way. He couldn’t expose Jess to that macabre part of his life.  
  
Now, just after one in the morning, he was standing outside her apartment in a bid to avoid the very real and confusing position he’d just found himself in. He reminded himself that he loved Jess over and over, like a mantra to solidify his love for her and drive out any unwanted emotions.  
  
And they were unwanted.  
  
She woke something inside of l him that Jess never had. A primal part of him that had excelled in the art his father and brother had trained him in. The part he had tried to leave behind. He’d been grateful for Jess, hoping that part of him would lie dormant before eventually becoming extinct. She seemed to quell the call that he routinely ignored. He didn’t want that life anymore, any of it, and though it pained him to leave his brother behind, he needed to walk away while his sanity was still intact.  
  
Now, his fingers itched. His brain told him to go home, put as much distance between himself and the woman to whom he was becoming attached, but his feet had other ideas. He found himself beside the library, trying to gather a trace of the demon. He reasoned that it made sense—the demon was clearly targeting her and if it attacked again when Jess was with her, he would never forgive himself. If he hunted the demon, he could rest assured that everyone was safe and he could begin putting as much distance between them as possible.  
  
_It made sense_.  
  
But as he tracked the demon, the anger that he had tamped down earlier in the night returned and overflowed. He remembered the way her head had fallen gently to his shoulder as she’d fallen asleep during the movie they’d watched. The way a peace had blanketed her as though she were completely safe next to him. Psychologically, he understood it; it wasn’t the first time he’d seen that phenomenon (especially when it came to his brother) and it was unlikely to be the last in his lifetime. Emotionally…well, that was a different story. Emotionally, he was falling for it. Hard. Anger rose again, this time redirected from himself, and he moved a little faster. The sooner he could excise her from his everyday routine, the better.  
  
Just before six that morning, as the dawn’s rays crept quietly over the horizon, Sam looked down at the corpse at his feet. Relief flowed through him and he resolved never to hunt again. It was a slip up, nothing more, and when he had distanced himself from the cause, he wouldn’t have to worry again. About any of it. He could live the life he’d planned, with Jess by his side and rugrats around their feet.  
  
And Dawn Summers would be but a memory.


End file.
